Independant+Novel+Study

Nicole Bruce Animal Farm- George Orwell November 28th, 2010 Page 1- Page 29 Chapters 1-4

At the beginning of the novel, the animals of Manor Farm are shown to be underfed, mistreated, and neglected. The farmed and owner of Manor Farm is Mr. Jones, a man who does not care about his animals and is a frequent drunk. One evening, an old, Middle White boar named Old Major, calls a meeting with all of the animals. He tells all of the animals about a dream he had last night, and passes along his wisdom, since he is old and will soon die. He teaches them a song, Beasts of England. Soon after, Old Major dies and is buried in the farm yard. The animals soon realize that he was right, and that animals are equal to humans and they won't go on with the inequality any longer. They over take the farmers, chasing them out of the yard. Soon after, they rename the farm Animal Farm. The pigs could already read and write, so they came up with seven commandments, which can be simplified to Four legs good, Two legs bad. The animals slowly start to become literate, and learn how to run the farm themselves. After a while, some other farmers start to think that it is unnatural for animals to run a farm, and try to kick them out. The animals defend the farm, and win. One sheep is killed, shot by Mr. Jones, and a stable boy is stunned by Boxer, when he is kicked in the head. They keep the gun to be fired twice a year, once on the day of the Cowshed Battle, and once on Midsummer Night, the anniversary of the day of the rebellion.

Why did you select this novel?

I chose this novel for a few reasons. I know several people who had read this book and they all said that it was really good. Once I read the plot on the back of the book, I decided I was going to choose it because it is different than most of the books I have read before. Usually I read books about happy teenagers with trivial problems. This book has a deeper meaning, and I thought it would be good to read it so I could broaden my horizons. The size of the book didn't matter to me, and I didn't realize how few pages the book had until I bought it. I really liked the undertone of the book, since the it is portraying a message, and is similar to many political events in real life, where the corrupt, powerful, unfair government or rulers is overtaken by the people beneath them.

What has happened before the novel began?

Before the novel began, most of the animals had been living on Manor Farm their whole lives. They were mistreated, underfed, and overall neglected by the farmers on Manor Farm. They dispised Mr. Jones, the main farmer, and most of the animals knew that their lives were leading to hard labour and an eventual visit to the slaughter house. When they reproduced, their offspring were taken away from them, they were not given enough to eat and the farmers over used them. All of the animals grew to hate the farmers, and rebellion was bound to happen. All of the animals lived hard, miserable lives, only knowing to be mistreated. They never thought about rebellion, as if it was actually a possibility, until the speech by Old Major in the first chapter of the book.

What's going on as the story begins?

When the story begins, the animals are just finishing the end of another hard day. Mr Jones, the farmer, is locking up the gates to the animal pens, and then going to bed. Little did he know that the animals are getting ready to have a secret meeting. OId Major, an old, wise boar, is telling all of the other animals about a dream he had, which leads him to telling them that humans have been mistreating them, and that they shouldn't take it anymore.To the animals, humans thought they were better because they stood on two legs, and were better than everyone else. The life of animals has always seemed to be second best to humans, and they should rebel against it. He then teaches them a song, called the Beasts of England. Soon after Old Major dies, the other animals rebel, and the Beasts of England becomes their "theme song", and also a motivational and allied tune.

10/10

Animal Farm- George Orwell December 10th, 2010 Page 30- Page 48 Chapters 5-6

During these two chapters, the story changes much since the beginning. There are some disputes among the animals, most of all between Snowball and Napoleon, but also with Mollie. Mollie never really seemed onboard with the whole, Animal Farm idea, and sure enough, after a while she started not helping with the work, and was found being stroked on the nose by a neighboring farm boy. When questioned about it, she denied it. After a few weeks, Mollie went missing and was spotted by pigeons on the other side of Willingdon. She had ribbons in her hair and was with a farmer who was feeding her sugar, and looked like she was enjoying herself, and the animals decided never speak of her again. Snowball and Napoleon, are two pigs, and they always argue about everything. They never agree. Snowball wanted to build a windmill, telling the other animals that it would help make the work easier so they could have shorter weeks and work less. Napoleon was against the idea, but it wasn't clear for which reasons. Soon, Snowball was chased out of Animal Farm by some fierce dogs that Napoleon had raised, and he soon became in charge. They set on the build the windmill, since it was revealed that the plans were actually Napoleons in the first place, then to be stolen by Snowball. After Napoleon became in charge, some of the rules changed. The pigs moved into the house, slept in the beds, and tried to convince everyone they could, when it went against the Seven Acts. After about a year, the windmill was destroyed one night, and there were pig tracks found. Napoleon declared that it was Snowball and he was sentenced to death, wand whoever found him would be awarded prizes.

What plot twists or unexpected events happen as the novel goes on?

At the beginning of the novel, the animals kicked out the people from the farm and made it their own. On that day, they vowed never to live like humans, but to rule the farm like animals, which they were. However, after Napoleon, one the pigs, became in charge, he decided that the pigs should move into the Manor where the humans used to live. They even started sleeping in their beds, which were all things the animals declared never to do when they first wrote the Seven Commandments. Slowly, the pigs were contradicting the things they first said when establishing the farm, and were making themselves more like humans. Also, because of Napoleon's hatred of Snowball, he expelled him form the farm, and later blamed the destruction of the windmill on him, therefore sentencing him to death. Although most likely the windmill was ruined in a wind storm.

What is the setting of the novel? Is the setting important or could the novel be happening anywhere? Why?

The setting of this novel is in England, on a farm called Manor Farm, ruled by the Jones'. At the beginning of the story, the atmosphere of the story is very tense, unhappy, and there is a lot of anger. After the animals take over the farm though, the atmosphere changes to more happy and calm, because things are going their way. After a while though, some of the animals become uneasy again, and start to not trust the ruling animals again, like at the beginning of the story. I don't think the setting of the farm is extremely important to the story line, as long as the story takes place on a farm. The only important aspect of where the story takes place is that at the beginning of the story, the animals needed to be in a place where they were treated badly by the farmers in order to motivate the rebellion. It really could have taken place in any developed country at the time, like the United States or Canada, or some other country in Europe.

What is the initial or first problem faced by the main character?

There really is no specific protagonist in //Animal Farm//, so I'm just going to say the main character is all of the animals. The first problem faced by the animals was the rebellion. They hated their lives on the farm when it was run by humans, since they didn't care about the animals and mistreated them. The animals didn't know how to take over the farm, and even if they did, they weren't sure they could. Eventually they came up with a plan, which basically consisted of the animals fighting off the humans. They did, and soon the farmers gave up and abandoned the farm. How to take over the farm was one of many problems faced by the animals, all of which were soon solved, such as the matter of authority and the the rules they should have on the farm. 10/10 Animal Farm- George Orwell December 21st, 2010 Page 49- Page 60 Chapter 7

During this chapter, nothing new was introduced, but story lines were continued and clarified. The animals are trying to prove to the people of the outside world that nothing is wrong at the farm, by starting to rebuild the windmill. It is winter, and the crops are dying so there is a food shortage. When a human comes to inspect the farm, instead of letting him find out that there is a food shortage, they filled the food barrels with sand, and put the remaining food on top. To the outside world, the life at Animal Farm is good. Snowball is still the common enemy, with Napoleon hating him as much as ever. He announces that he is a spy; he was working with Mr. Jones since even before the rebellion. Whenever things seem to go wrong at the farm, it is blamed on Snowball. Napoleon claims he sneaks in at night and does mischievous things at the farm. Whenever keys are missing, or there is a window broken, then Snowball is blamed. One day Napoleon has his dogs break one of the most basic commandments. Killing other animals. He hears that four pigs were in legion with Snowball, so he makes them come forward, and when they confess that they were, they were slaughtered by his dogs. Hens, sheep, and cows who all confessed to seeing or doing things because of Snowball, were also slaughtered. The animals checked the commandments, but on the end was added "without cause", so technically the dogs had not broken a commandment. Napoleon later banned the singing of "The Beasts of England", since it was the song of the rebellion, which is now over. Instead, they sing a new song about Animal Farm, which is not as good.

Who is telling the story? How does this person's perspective effect the way the story is told?

There is no specific person telling the story, but rather an invisible narrator. The story is told in third person omniscient, because the narrator knows everything that is happening, whether it's on the farm or in the outside world. Having the story narrated in third person effects the way the story is told because it makes the narrator unbiased. If one of the characters was telling the story, then their thoughts and emotions would be clouding the story, making it harder for the reader to form their own opinions. I think it is important that this story be told in third person, because then it is especially clear to anyone who reads it that there is quite a lot of corruption occurring on the farm. The commandments are being broken, and with every one broken, the farm is becoming more and more like Manor Farm. If the story was told in the perspective of Napoleon, the things he was doing would seem justified, rather then unfair, like they actually were.

How does the author get you to read on or hold your interest?

The author of Animal Farm, George Orwell, captivated the readers interest by adding conflict and twists to the story. The whole idea of the rebellion was supposed to be so the animals were treated fairly, and that they were not mistreated anymore. Also, that they would not be run by a leader, and that all the animals were to be equal. However, as the story progresses, the animals change everything, so that things are slowly becoming back as they were, before the rebellion, except instead of humans dictating what they did, there were the pigs. This captivated my interest, because I wanted to find out what would happen, whether there would be another rebellion, animals against animals, or if the animals would just live the rest of their lives, miserable because things had turned back into the way they were.

What new things are added to the original problem as the story progresses?

At first, the only problem at Animal Farm was the traitorous behaviour of Snowball, but then it expanded past that. He wasn't just someone Napoleon didn't like and there exiled from the farm, he was a threat, a thief, and was ruining the farm. He started to become blamed for things. Instead of just being not liked by the leader, he was destroying windmills, and causing overall mischief through out the farm. He was "doing" things such as breaking windows, ruining crops, and causing over all mischief. Since the animals wanted to believe that they were doing everything right, whenever something went wrong, it was blamed on Snowball, even though the things were actually caused by their own inadequacy. 10/10

Animal Farm-George Orwell January 7th, 2011 Page 61- Page 84 Chapter 8-Chapter 9

During these two chapters, the events continue in the same pattern. There will be some sort of incident, all of the animals will be sure that they swore never to do it in the Seven Commandments, but when they go and check, they will discover that the law states they cannot do something without cause, or to excess, rather than just not do it. For instance the animals swore never to drink alcohol, but when the pigs discovered a crate of whiskey, they decided it was alright for them to drink it. The animals also decided to trade with a neighbouring farm, either with Mr. Pilkington or with Mr. Frederick. The transaction took an incredibly long time, because Napoleon was sure that one of them was secretly hiding Snowball. He would go back and forth between the men, but then seemed to lean toward Mr. Pilkington, but then decided to go with Mr. Frederick. He said Mr. Pilkington was secretly working with Snowball. He eventually traded with Mr. Frederick, and insisted on being paid in cash. When he went to use the money to buy machinery for the windmill, he discovered that the money was fake, and that he had been cheated. Napoleon called war upon Frederick, and when Frederick and his men attacked the farm, the animals fought back and won, not however, the men managed to destroy the windmill. Several animals were killed in the battle, which was named Battle of the Windmill. Boxer, who is about eleven years old, is soon reaching the retirement age of twelve. His personal slogan is "I will work harder", and he always followed to it. Being a horse, he did a lot of the heavy lifting on the farm, especially while building the windmill. Even when being advised to slow down and take it easier by Clover and Benjamin, he never did. One day, Boxer was out in the field, pulling supplies for the windmill, when he was injured. The other animals came, and then went to get Squealer, who told Napoleon. They announced that Boxer would be taken to town to be treated int he hospital, because the veterinarians would be able to help him better than they could on the farm. A few days later while they were working in the fields, and van came and took boxer away. As the animals watched him being driven away, Benjamin read the side of the van, which instead of saying Veterinarians, said Horse Slaughterer. They called after Boxer, and after attempting to kick out of the van, was never seen by any of the animals again. Napoleon told the other animals that the van was actually bought by the Veterinarians and they hadn't changed the side yet. There was a funeral for Boxer, which all the animals attended.

What plot twists or unexpected events happen as the novel goes on?

I thought it was really unexpected that the pigs started to replace the humans. When the book started I thought it would be about the animals running the farm themselves, as equals, but soon the story changed to have the pigs acting like the humans, and slowly contradicting all of the things they swore never to do. They pretty much did all of the things on the Seven Commandments, such as sleep in beds, drink alcohol, and kill other animals. I thought it surprised me the most when Napoleon called for other animals on the farm to be executed. They were executed for supposedly being in legion with Snowball, and over time many animals were executed for crimes like this. The pigs were the only ones who ever broke the rules, but I found it surprising every time they did. When the other animals remembered being a law against doing something the pigs were doing, they always discovered that the Commandments actually were things like "No animal shall sleep in a bed //with sheets//", or "No animal should drink alcohol //to excess//".

Comment on the style of the novel. Is it easy or hard to follow the events?

The style of the novel is very old fashioned, especially some of the words the author uses. His writing makes it relatively difficult to understand what is happening, and since the story is so short and compressed, sometimes I'll read past something and not even realize what I read. I would have liked it if the book was made a little bit longer, because it would have been way easier for me to read it and follow along if things were more spread out. The author also uses quite a fe words that I don't know, but usually I can figure out what the word means from the context, and the sentence it is in. I think the style of writing really worked with the story line, because it was really blunt and straight forward. The way the author wrote at times made it really clear what he was saying, rather than using a Euphemism to try and not make it so harsh.

To what age group is the novel aimed? Support your answer with evidence.

I don't think this book is targeting a specific audience, but I think probably more towards teenagers and adults. It isn't an extremely graphic book, or have anything horrific in it, but still probably isn't really aimed for children to be reading it. There are things in the story like the killing of the animals that are probably aimed towards older readers, and the writing is old fashioned, and would probably be hard for children to understand. I think mostly it is a book for adults, mostly because they would be able to understand the story better, and the undertones as well, like that the whole book is mirroring events in real life.

Animal Farm- George Orwell January 11th, 2011 Page 85- Page 95 Chapter 10

This is the final chapter of the book, and it takes place years after the previous section of the book. In this chapter, it wraps up all of the loose ends of the story, explaining everything. For the animals on the farm, life was strikingly similar to life on Animal Farm before the rebellion. They were underfed, mistreated, and through the whole thing the farm was getting richer, although the working animals never seemed to get more food. The rebellion was a thing of the past, mostly forgotten by the animals, unless they were there. The animals still had hope though, that one day things would get better once they smoothed over. One day, Squealer led some sheep away from the farm to a field. None of the animals knew what they were doing there, and the sheep stayed away from the farm for several days. When they finally returned, the animals saw that they were followed by pigs, walking on their hind legs. All of them including Napoleon, were walking on two legs. The sheep then started chanting, instead of "Four legs good, two legs bad" as the farm had always known, they chanted "Four legs good, two legs better". Two of the horses went to check the Seven Commandments, which they hadn't seen for years, to see if they were the same. When they checked, only one commandment was written on the wall. It read "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others". After that, the pigs started carrying whips, bought a television, a telephone, subscribed to magazines, and wore human clothes. A few days later, some neighbouring farmers came to inspect the farm, and liked what they saw. They dined in the Manor house that evening, with Napoleon. Some of the animals snuck in from their stables and were watching them. Mr. Pilkington was there, and he made a toast to Napoleon and Animal Farm. After that, Napoleon made a speech of his own, correcting one aspect of Mr. Pilkington's speech. The farm that he referred to the farm as Animal Farm. He announced that the farm would return to it's rightful name, Manor Farm. After that, The pigs and the farmers got into an argument about something, and the animals watching them from the other room looked from man to pig and back again, but they couldn't tell which was which.

What is the climax of the novel?

I think the climax of the novel is when the pigs learn to walk on their hind legs. Before that, the other animals were still questioning the pigs' antics, but after that, they just seemed to accept that the pigs were always right. They didn't question that they were becoming too much like the humans when they started walking on their hind legs or when they started to wear clothes. After that it was pretty much all resolution. They explained what happened to the animals, the farm, and the pigs. The animals still lived in poverty, never getting enough to eat and working too hard, the pigs lived prosperously, getting everything they wanted, and the farm was restored to its original name, Manor Farm.

Is the novel believable?

I thought to a certain extent that the novel was believable. I think it is a real situation that could happen, like it did in Russia in the early 20th century, but I don't think it could necessarily happen on a farm. There are two many things that for an animal I don't think are possible. I don't think the animals would be smart enough to take over a farm like that, and be organized enough to run the farm without any serious problems. They built a windmill, harvested crops, and ran everything semi well. Everyone was fed, and for a while they were all happy. I think it would be something that definitely could happen somewhere in the world to real people, but I don't think this could happen on a farm.

Why would you (or why wouldn't you) recommend this novel to a friend?

I think I would recommend this novel to a friend if they were looking for a book to read for a class assignment, like this one, but I don't think I would recommend this if they were just reading a book for fun. It was kind of serious, and dealt with problems that were kind of not very entertaining to read about. It has a clear theme, and a good story line, so it's easy to write about, but I'm not the kind of person who would read this kind of book in my spare time, so I don't really think I would recommend my friends to either.